B2C lemmings keep plunging into the sea of insolvency

(Apparently, the company does have sufficient funds to pay all its creditors, and will wind down "in a responsible manner". Which is nice.)

So what next for bagsoftime.com? The official announcement began with the statement that it's going to concentrate on a B2R strategy.

B2R? Had a new acronym been born when we weren't looking? Nope. At the end of the official release, all becomes clear. "Now that we have got bags of time on our hands, we intend to concentrate on a brief B2R (beach-to-recuperate) strategy, somewhere hot."

Enjoy yourselves. You deserve it.

In case you were wondering what happened to the likely lad and lass behind boo.com after their venture went down the pan, you'll no doubt be pleased to hear that the co-founders are writing a book about the whole sorry affair.

It'll be on the shelves in September 2001. Which means they'll have worked on the book for about the same time it took them to create a company and drive it to bankruptcy.

Weird. After all, if you didn't buy their clothes, what makes them think you'll buy their book?

boo.com will be back with us on 30 October - you may recall the brand lived on after Boo the First went down. It's still a fashion site though... So is this the inception of another B2R strategy? They always were an agenda-setting lot at bagsoftime. One of their staff, a Ms Sarah Allen, gloried in the job title 'Bag Lady'.

Let's hope that sobriquet doesn't come back to haunt you, Sarah...

Hee Hee it's laugh-a-minute BT

BTinternet recently sent out a mail to its customers to promote its website's "bright new look", and to flag up some more changes to come.

The mail also included some tongue-in-cheek 'customer feedback' on the site. Like: "Hi BTintermet, I just wanted to thank you for sorting out my life for me this month. I couldn't have done it without you."

The 'feedback' went on to promote some of the services available from BTinternet... and was written by a Mr F. Ictional.

Yes, BT are making up their own positive feedback... all very 21st century and postmodern and stuff (and actually quite funny for a company not renowned for its sense of humour). But the man who sent the newsletter to us wasn't quite so impressed.

He said: "As those cheeky chappies at BT (doncha just love 'em!!) have no mates whatsoever these days, they have taken to writing their own feedback (how come they never printed mine?) I can only assume it was written by the same moron who wrote all that Spandau Ballet-type rubbish for the latest advert."

[Boring biographical note from a Round-Up writer: apologies to the nice BT PR person I spoke to last night at a party we held to celebrate the recently revamped silicon.com. I seem to recall agreeing that all this anti-BT coverage was a bit unfair because BT's such an easy target. True. But if the company will insist on walking round wearing a T-shirt with 'Kick me, I'm stupid' written on it, what is a boy supposed to do?]

Microsoft swings in to rescue the dysfunctional teleworker

According to a Microsoft/NOP survey, about two thirds of us would like to work from home, but don't feel able to, citing obstacles such as a lack of access to computer systems, difficulties communicating with colleagues, and distractions from the family. "However," Microsoft trumpets, "we believe these problems can be easily overcome (though maybe not the family) with widely available technologies that enable people to work flexibly and avoid battling to work."

There may even be a solution to the family problem. Why not buy them a PC and a Mac, and set them the challenge of working out why one is so much nicer to use than the other? That should keep 'em quiet for a while.

In related news, we spoke to Brian Valentine, vice president of Microsoft's Windows division, recently. Talking about human/computer interaction, he said: "The user interface is still not simple enough to use. We need to revolutionise the design of the interface so that end users feel comfortable using their PCs. The design needs to be activity-based rather than application driven."

Strange phrase, "we need to revolutionise the design". Surely he means: "Somebody else needs to revolutionise the design, and then we can nick their ideas and take all the credit"?

Incidentally, rumours surfaced last week that Xerox - whose boffins originally invented Windows - is in a financial pickle, rumours that Xerox has vehemently denied. Either way, imagine how different things would have been if they'd realised what they'd created all those years ago...

Ovum reports: instant babies via SMS

And finally, Brainstorm, the wireless application service provider (or WASP - remember that acronym, it's going to be important) has partnered with motherandbaby.com to develop a 'baby making' text messaging system for mobile phones to assist in maximising the chances of conception.

Couples trying for a child can log on and enter information about the woman's monthly cycle. When the woman is in her fertile period (and I'm not making this up), text messages are forwarded to each partners' mobile phone.

Interesting application from a WASP. There's probably a joke in there somewhere, something along the lines of this not being the first time a little prick from an annoying creature has led to a pregnancy.

OK, that's rubbish, but we're too tired to think it through properly. This Round-Up was written from home (as usual), which means your correspondent can now continue executing silicon.com's excellent B2B strategy.

B2B standing for back-to-bed, obviously.

Til next Friday...